


Beyond the End

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: Zervis [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Afterlife, Conversations, Death, F/M, Love, Possibility of forgiveness, Realization, Reunions, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-12 16:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17471087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: When Zeref drifted back to awareness, he was surprised by two things. Firstly, that he had woken at all, as the last thing he could remember was Natsu’s flames, fuelled by his brother’s rage and the power of the demon inside him that the younger mage had managed to tap into at the last minute, engulfing him and the agonizing pain that had come with it. And secondly, to find that he was lying with his head cradled in Mavis’s laps, her hands gently running through his hair, tears in the emerald eyes that not long ago had been glaring at him with pure fury.





	Beyond the End

 

    When Zeref drifted back to awareness, he was surprised by two things. Firstly, that he had woken at all, as the last thing he could remember was Natsu’s flames, fuelled by his brother’s rage and the power of the demon inside him that the younger mage had managed to tap into at the last minute, engulfing him and the agonizing pain that had come with it. And secondly, to find that he was lying with his head cradled in Mavis’s laps, her hands gently running through his hair, tears in the emerald eyes that not long ago had been glaring at him with pure fury. Now, however, her expression softened as she realised that he was awake, and she actually smiled at him. The same smile she had given him years ago when they had first met, and he felt his breath catch at the sight of it, just as it had back then.

“Mavis…?” _How can you smile like that? Why are you happy to hold me? Have you forgotten what I’ve done…_

    She had always been able to understand him better than most people, especially without words, and her expression turned solemn as she looked up, without thinking he followed her gaze and found his mouth dropping open slightly as he took in the golden grasslands stretching out around them for as far as the eye could see. There was nowhere like that in Fiore. Nowhere like that on Earthland, and slowly comprehension dawned, and he turned his gaze back to her, just in time to catch the sad smile that crossed her face as she met his gaze once more.

“Do you understand?”

“We’re dead?” He asked, not sure how to feel when she nodded slightly. _Dead…Death…I finally get to experience death._ It was something he had sought for years, a way to escape his existence and what he had once harboured the hope that Natsu would have been able to give him, but something he had long since given up on. “How?” It wasn’t vanity, he knew that there had been no one on Earthland capable of defeating him. Even Natsu’s flames which had been supplemented by E.N. D’s power shouldn’t have been enough, and even if the demon had been fully unleashed it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.

“Natsu defeated you and released me,” Mavis said softly, and he blinked as it dawned on him that she shouldn’t have been here either. She was the heart, and she had evaded his efforts to claim that heart before Natsu and the others had intervened, so why was she here with him rather than with her guild - her children as she had called them.

“But how…?”

“Fairy Heart,” Mavis couldn’t look at him as she replied, a tension that hadn’t been there before seeping into her body and he couldn’t really blame her. He hadn’t held back in the slightest when trying to claim the heart, and he had nearly torn apart her family, and yet she was still holding him in her lap, her hands gentle in his hair.

“They managed to use it?” He couldn’t keep the shock out of his voice, and he was caught by surprise when she glared down at him, a spark of real anger in her eyes this time.

“You never did understand,” she told him harshly, looking torn between anger, disappointment and hurt and he found himself lingering on the latter more than the others. _Why do you look like that?_ Her hand had fallen away from his hair, and he wanted to reach out and grab it, for the first time in years feeling the need to comfort someone else. But it had always been her, always this strange blonde girl who knew how to wiggle around his barriers as though they weren’t even there. He blinked as he realised that she was still speaking, and he was overcome by an odd desire to laugh as her words washed over him. “Fairy Heart… It was never something that you could just take, it had to be given freely, to someone who was truly a Fairy. Someone who was truly a child of Fairy Tail.” He couldn’t stop the soft chuckle that escaped as he realised that he had never stood a chance, not once…he might have influenced the guild and its founder, but he had never been a child of Fairy Tail, never even borne its mark. _So it was something I could never actually possess._ Oddly enough he didn’t feel anything in particular about the revelation itself, but there was a slight pang as it dawned on him who she was speaking about.

“Natsu…”

“Yes,” Mavis agreed softly, the anger fading from her eyes, and there was a sad smile on her lips as she continued. “A child that bore powers from both of us. But he was never yours. Even if you had opened that book, he would never have been the demon you thought he was. His heart belonged to Fairy Tail from the moment he joined…”

  _So it was a long defeat…_

     Zeref had thought that he knew his brother, that Natsu had never really changed, still the same reckless child he had always been. He had missed the signs - the fierce loyalty to Fairy Tail, the desire to defeat him before he could get close to the guild, the sheer fury in the olive eyes when Natsu had realised he was hurting Mavis. _He was no longer the little brother I knew._ He snorted, closing his eyes as he realised that the very person he had thought would be his trump card if everything else failed, turned out to have been Mavis’s trump card all along, and somehow he couldn’t bring himself to mind, not here in this peaceful place and her body warm behind his.

“I see,” he said as he opened his eyes once more, smiling as he caught the surprise in her eyes at his calm tone. “Well played…”

“You seem surprisingly calm?”

“I’m dead,” Zeref said with a shrug, pausing for a moment at his words. _I’m dead._ All those long years of searching for an escape from his curse, and from his life. All of that was over, and there was no holding back the peaceful feeling that realisation gave him, and his smile grew brighter as he continued. “I achieved one of my goals, I can be happy with that.” _I got to see Natsu become stronger than I ever could, and I got to see you without a war lying between us…_

“He was magnificent,” Mavis agreed, and he blinked at the confirmation that she really could understand him, even his unspoken questions, and he was unsurprised by her next words. “And we have a long time to fix everything that lay between us…” There was a hint of uncertainty in the last bit, and he reached up to grasp the hand that was straying back towards his hair, squeezing it softly until she met his gaze and he offered her a warm smile.

“Yes, we do…”

_All the time in the world. All the time that we were denied back then._


End file.
